Congress set to pass trade pacts

On Wednesday, Congress planned to pass the trade pacts with Columbia, Panama, and South Korea. Congress agreed about the three deals with bipartisan support which is the first time in a while, that Congress has done this. If passed, this will create more jobs for Americans. Some Democratic House members are against this trading pact agreement with Colombia because they hold the “World’s record [sic] for assassinations of trade unionists”. House members are trying to convince Congress (before they pass it) that they will be endangering the U.S. workers. A Democratic representative, Gregory Meeks has a different opinion, he said, “It’s not a Democratic issue. It’s not a Republican issue. You can look at trade going back as far as you want, whether it’s Kennedy, Reagan, Bush or Obama. They all believed in trade.”

The trade pact was delayed because many Democrats opposed the pact and labor organizations argued that this pact would harm U.S. workers. The White House said they would not send the trade pact to Congress until they had a program that would solve this problem. The program called the Trade Adjustment Assistance was created and approved by the Senate.

Gregory Meeks (D) who believes that trade with Colombia, Panama, and South Korea is important because it simulates the economy.

Many House Democrats are using the lobbying pathway of action to try to convince Republican and Democratic members of Congress that this trade pact with Colombia is a bad idea. The Democrats are trying to explain to the members of Congress that this decision is a dangerous one and they are not doing enough to reduce the violence against U.S. workers. The lobbying pathway was very effective because the Democrats that were trying to get the pact stalled, did. They spoke to Congress and other officials and persuaded them before they made a final decision.

Article: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1011/65772.html